Defining Generosity

Winston Churchill said: We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Oscar Wilde said: Generosity consists not in the sum given but the manner in which it is bestowed.

I imagine generosity is defined differently by a great many people. I suspect because many of us have experienced generosity as both the giver and the receiver, we ourselves may have very different definitions for the word. Implusively we might all associate generosity with money and yet we can all recall an experience wherein someone was generous towards us in such a way that had nothing to do with our wallets. I am reading Gordon MacDonald’s Secrets of the Generous Life wherein he says in the introduction that Generous living is more often the measure of one’s soul than one’s pocketbook. This leaves us to ask whether we are better to define generousity by the condition of a person’s heart as opposed to the condition of a person’s checking account.